Lester's Birthday
by vespertine dreams
Summary: The team persuade Lester to go for a few drinks after work to celebrate his birthday. Reviews welcome.


Lester's birthday.

"We're not going away until you agree," Abby announced.

Connor sat down on the end of Lester's desk and idly picked up a stapler, fiddling with it. "Yep, we can sit here all night, can't we Abby?"

Lester snatched the stapler off him and then glared as Sarah, Danny and Becker sauntered into his office.

"He agree yet?" Danny asked.

When Connor and Abby shook their heads, the three newcomers sat down in the padded chairs opposite Lester's desk. All five of them turned to Lester.

He sighed. "I could fire you all, you know."

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Danny said, "It's just a drink on your birthday. It's not like we're asking you to rob a bank or something."

Lester's irritation turned from Danny and focussed on Connor. "A birthday you wouldn't have known about had _someone_ not breeched security by invading the personnel files."

Three days ago, during a rather quiet spell at the ARC, Connor and Danny had hacked into the personnel files. They hadn't intended to do anything with the information, looking out of curiosity more than anything. Then they had found Lester's file and, more importantly, the fact that it was his birthday soon and he had been hiding it from them for years. Well, not this time.

"I have work to do tonight," Lester pointed out.

Connor shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. We'll just stay here and keep you company." He glanced at Becker. "Did you bring the cards?"

"Right here," Becker replied, opening the deck of playing cards and shuffling them. He looked around at the others. "Poker?"

--------

Connor carried the tray of drinks over to their table. Lester had managed a whole ten minutes of complaining, growling and generally threatening them to make them leave his office before giving a resigned sigh.

"You people were put in this world to make my life miserable, weren't you?"

Five faces grinned back at him as he got his coat.

"One drink, and I mean _one_."

That had been three hours ago and they were already on their fifth round. Surprisingly, after a few drinks, Lester was actually kind of fun, Connor realised. Gone was almost all trace of the sarcastic, snappish, control-freak that they all knew at work; this new Lester was actually laughing at one of Danny's slightly (OK, very) disgusting jokes.

He had, however, put a stop to the rendition of 'happy birthday' that they had begun singing.

He gladly accepted the glass of rum that was set in front of him and took a mouthful.

"I'm glad you decided to come out with us," Sarah told him. She raised her glass. "Happy birthday."

The others echoed the sentiment, making Lester smile. He looked around at them all.

"You lot aren't so bad, you know," he told them, "but don't expect me to ever repeat that."

Danny laughed. "I think that's the nicest thing you've actually said to me since I arrived."

From Lester, that had been a huge compliment. They watched the two women who were singing, applauding when they finished, and Abby turned to Lester.

"It's a tradition here that you have to sing on your birthday," she said, sipping her drink.

Abby had chosen the bar, not telling them where they were going until they arrived. Turned out that Abby's guilty secret was a love of karaoke. She had already been up to sing once, receiving a round of well-deserved applause from the crowd.

"Come on, it'll be fun," she cajoled.

Lester shook his head emphatically. "Not a chance. No."

Abby glanced across at Connor and smiled conspiratorially, distracting Lester whilst Connor switched his almost empty glass for a full one. He didn't notice, nor did he notice when Connor did it the next time. When the next singers finished and the DJ asked who wanted to sing, Abby grabbed Lester's hand and dragged him toward the cleared area of the bar where the karaoke was set up.

"We're next!" she told the DJ.

Across at the table, Connor leaned closer to the other three.

"A fiver says she gets him to sing."

Sarah shook her head, laughing as Abby bounced around, taking to the DJ while keeping a firm grip on Lester in case he decided to make a break for it.

"I'll take that bet," she said. "There's no way he'll do it."

It was a sight that Connor knew he'd never forget; Lester and Abby stood together, microphones in hands, singing along to Elton John and Kiki Dee's 'Don't go breaking my heart'.

He held his had out and Sarah grudgingly slapped a five pound note into it.

End.


End file.
